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Stargate
|name = Stargate |manufacturer = *Ancients **Lanteans **Olympians **Enhareans *Asurans *Ori |designer = Amelius |function = Interplanetary transportation |control = Dial Home Device/Dialing computer/Auto-dialer |material = Naquadah |size = 6.7 meter diameter |weight = +29 tons (64,000 lbs) |power = Various (ranging from electricity to zero point energy) |affiliation = N/A }} The Stargates, also called the Astria Porta in Ancient and the Chappa'ai in Goa'uld, are a series of devices, built by the Ancients, that can create stable artificial wormholes between distant worlds. The Stargates are often considered to be the Ancients' greatest creation, and so the Ancients are often called the Gate Builders. The Ancients, the Nox, the Asurans, the Tollan, and the Ori are the only known races that have managed to build Stargates. The original Stargate design was invented by an Alteran named Amelius, from an idea he formulated the night before the Alterans left their home galaxy for the Milky-Way. It is unknown if he actually built the first of the Stargate Network. They are among the oldest examples of Ancient technology found in the Milky-Way galaxy, the Stargate found in Antarctica on Earth has been estimated to be over 50 million years old. Names .]] The Ancients placed Stargates on thousands of worlds across several galaxies. They have long since reached Ascension, but the network remains accessible to any with the knowledge of how it works, and continues to be a convenient form of travel for many races. Some races, such as the Goa'uld, grew their ways of life around the gates, which became integral to the functioning of their culture. In turn, most races developed their own names for the Stargates. The Ancients called them "Astria Porta". The English word "Stargate" is a calque of the Goa'uld word "Chappa'ai", courtesy of a direct translation by Daniel Jackson, and "Chappa'ai" is itself a calque of "Astria Porta". The K'Tau call their Stargate "the annulus". In the Pegasus Galaxy, villagers know them as Rings of the Ancestors and variations thereof. They are also commonly referred to as as simply "the ring" or "the gate". The Wraith call it the Portal. Although Stargates are present on many planets, most of the races which use them are relatively primitive, and view the technology as divine in nature, as evidenced by such names as "Ring of the Gods" and "Circle of Darkness". In many cases the references to gods or evil in the names come from the Goa'uld, or in the Pegasus Galaxy, legends of the Ancients or their present use by the Wraith. Technical specifications ' original plans for the first Stargate.]] The Stargate creates a stable, artificial wormhole between itself and another Stargate, allowing near-instantaneous travel from the dialing gate to the destination gate, but not vice versa. When activated, a Stargate produces a violent burst of energy known as an unstable vortex or "kawoosh". This is due to the large amount of energy needed to form a stable wormhole, while keeping one open is much less power-intensive. This event will destroy any matter it comes into contact with; however, if the event horizon is blocked to within a few microns, the vortex will be suppressed. Technologies such as the iris on Earth's Stargate can achieve this. The vortex settles into the event horizon, nicknamed the puddle for its liquid appearance. Travelers enter through the event horizon, which dematerializes them for transport through the wormhole, to be reassembled on the other side. The Stargate will remain open so long as matter or energy continues to pass through it, to a maximum of 38 minutes. Beyond this point, massive amounts of power are needed to sustain a wormhole, which ordinary sources cannot provide. in the Pegasus Galaxy.]] Travel through a Stargate is strictly one-way: from the dialing gate to the receiving gate. This is not a limitation of the wormhole, but of the technology; wormholes will transmit anything that enters them, but no solid matter could survive the process. Thus, each gate in the pair takes on a specific role: the dialing gate converts the traveler into its most basic components (sub-atomic particles) and transmits it, while the receiving gate reassembles the transmitted matter back into its original form. Doing the reverse is not only fatal for the traveler, but would just result in the dialing gate deconstructing the object upon arrival, converting it into energy. It is unknown what would happen if someone entered the Stargate via the 'back' rather than the 'front'; Teal'c once stated that he knew someone who attempted that on one occasion and that his death was "most unpleasant", but further details are unknown. The Stargate is an enormous superconductor composed almost entirely of Naquadah and is capable of harnessing power from virtually any source, though some sources are apparently inferior to others. Its design renders it incredibly durable; direct meteor impacts have failed to destroy a gate, and they have also survived within a crashing vessel unharmed. The naquadah construction of a Stargate allows it to hold many times the necessary amount of power for a wormhole to form, but it does have a limit. Surpassing this limit will create an explosion of considerable size, enough to potentially kill all life on a planet the size of Earth. es require six symbols (points in space) and a point of origin in order to connect.]] Though Stargates vary in design, they share several common elements. First, all Stargates have a group of glyphs spaced around the inner ring (39 for Milky Way gates, 36 for Pegasus, NGC 3109, Vennix and Destiny-style gates) and nine chevrons spaced equally around the outer edge. The glyphs on Milky Way and Pegasus gates represent constellations, while Destiny-style gates use some sort of abstract symbols for lack of consistent stellar landmarks. These two features are used as a coordinate system for the gate to target and form a connection with another gate; each chevron is locked to a specific glyph, thereby allowing the gate to connect to another. This is known as an address for a gate; gate addresses are described in terms of how many chevrons are needed to dial them, seven at the least and nine at the most. For a standard seven-chevron address, the first six glyphs represent points in space, forming three-dimensional coordinates. The seventh represents the point of origin, a glyph which is unique to each gate. For Stargates to access a destination outside of their galaxy, eight chevrons are used; the first six target a destination as normal, while a seventh glyph prior to the point of origin adds a distance calculation to the address, targeting a gate outside the galaxy as opposed to a local one. A nine-chevron address is more of a code than a location, and this allows connection to specific Stargates - regardless of their location. So far, the only two known nine-chevron address connect to the Ancient ship Destiny, and from Destiny to Earth, but it is possible that more of these addresses exist. The Stargates within a galaxy are linked to each other in a network, usually by means of a Dial Home Device (DHD for short). This network compensates for stellar drift, allowing every gate with a functioning DHD to properly connect to other gates. In the absence of this, the gate will either fail to connect entirely or roughly eject the passengers due to unexpected deviations in the position of the gate. Known networks include those in the Milky Way, Pegasus, Ida, the Ori home galaxy (through which Priors were sent to the Milky Way), NGC 3109 and Vennix, as well as the more primitive gate networks set up by the Ancient Seed ships. Stargate networks Early gates Seed network Milky Way gates Milky Way Stargates are the second model of Stargate designed by the Ancients. They are 6.7 meters in diameter and weigh roughly 29 tons. They are dark gray in appearance with red-orange colored chevrons. The triangular lower half of the Stargate's top chevron extends and retracts while locking a symbol. The glyphs are built into an inner ring. Most of the gates are built into a stone platform with a stairway for easy access. Those that aren't have often been moved from where they were first found. The inner rings spins while dialing and can be moved by hand (with some difficulty) to dial the gate in the absence of an external device. The dialing computer used by Stargate Command essentially employs this method to dial the gate; the system instructs the motors inside the gate to move the ring to the relevant position. A DHD bypasses the need for the inner ring to spin, simply allowing the user to enter the relevant address. The gates in the Ida galaxy appear to be of the same model as the Milky Way. Pegasus gates ]] Pegasus Stargates are the latest model of Stargate and are quite different from their Milky Way counterparts. They are primarily silver in appearance, with a blue inner ring and blue chevrons (larger than those of a Milky Way stargate). They possess no moving parts; instead, each glyph lights up in a circular pattern, staying lit when locked. Unlike Milky Way Stargates, Pegasus Stargates are not built into a platform, and instead are just buried in the ground at about the same level. Because they have no moving parts, Pegasus Stargates cannot be manually dialed. Pegasus Stargates also have a security feature which renders them incapable of dialing intergalactic addresses without the use of a specific control crystal installed on Atlantis. This crystal can be removed and installed on other DHDs if necessary. Due to their newer design, Pegasus Stargates also automatically become the dominant gate if placed in the same region as an older model, which caused some problems on the Midway Space Station until McKay developed a bypass. Pegasus also has the unique use of "Spacegates", Stargates which have been placed in orbit above a planet, rather than on the surface. Spacegates have no local DHD, and thus must be dialed remotely by a craft equipped with one (such as Puddle Jumpers and Wraith darts). They are powered by three power nodes that also serve as stabilizers, keeping the gate in orbit and correcting for sudden impacts. NGC-3109 and Vennnix gates Complexities of function Matter transmission Gate obstruction Power source Power is always required to establish an outgoing wormhole, and is usually supplied wirelessly by a DHD, but any Stargate can receive a wormhole whether it has a power supply or not; the dialing gate is the one that supplies power to both. In a few cases, Stargates have been dialed "manually" when more sophisticated means were not available. This was accomplished by providing sufficient raw power to the gate and then rotating the symbol ring by hand to lock each chevron. Power can be fed directly into the Naquadah that comprises the gate; power harnessed from lightning strikes has been shown to be sufficient for several seconds of transmission. Stargates also possess the means to harness the energy of nearby (in relative terms) quantum singularities, though it is unknown what methods it uses to accomplish this. The Stargate that establishes an outgoing wormhole determines how long the wormhole is held open, and can generally close the wormhole "at will". Under some conditions, a gate only needs enough power to connect briefly, then the receiving gate can provide enough power to maintain the connection. The same is true if the outgoing gate loses power while transmitting; if the incoming gate has a DHD, it will take over powering the gate until reintegration is complete. Secondary Stargates Durability and Susceptibility Exceptions Other uses Glyphs Glyphs are symbols on Stargates which chevrons lock onto when a Stargate is being dialed. The basis for glyphs are star constellations. There are several differences between the Milky Way, Pegasus, Destiny, and Vennix glyphs. A Milky Way Stargate has 39 inscribed symbols on the inner ring. When dialing, this inner ring rotates until the dialed symbol is aligned with the seventh chevron, at which point the ring pauses, the seventh chevron moves down and up, and the appropriate chevron in the sequence engages and glows red. Unlike the Milky Way gates, Pegasus and Vennix gates are depicted with 36 symbols. 7 symbols are still required to dial an interplanetary address, adhering to the same constraints as a Milky Way gate. Destiny's Stargate contains 36 symbols like Pegasus Stargates. The symbols are fixed on the Stargate and the entire Gate spins to dial an address. When dialing, the symbols light up to indicate they have been encoded. The glyphs are not based star constellations as with Milky Way and Pegasus Gates since the gate must be able to dial addresses from a moving point of origin in many different galaxies, but rather are some mathematical or conceptual representation yet to be discovered by the people aboard. Chevrons -style Stargate.]] All known Stargates have nine chevrons used to lock in coordinates. The top chevron 'scans' each co-ordinate and the corresponding chevron lights up. Only seven of these chevrons are normally used. The eighth chevron allows for the establishment of a wormhole to other galaxies. The ninth chevron enables the connection to a specific Stargate; the only two addresses using nine chevrons connect to and from Destiny and Earth. Dialling devices Stargate's DHD.]] Dial Home Devices (or DHD's) are large, pedestal-shaped computers placed on on almost every planet in the Stargate Network. They establish a wireless link with the nearby Stargate and act as a control device and power source, allowing any intelligent species to dial it without having to rotate the gate manually or develop their own computer interface. Similar to a telephone dial or touch pad (although much larger), the DHD is used to specify which other Stargate to connect to when opening a gate or wormhole to another location. The external symbols on the DHD represent star constellations, surrounding the central activation button. The DHD's are composed of control crystals, used to store memory and information. Despite the apparent simplicity of function, the DHD performs incredibly complex calculations within seconds every time it is dialed to account for stellar drift and other potential problems, assisted by information from its automatic update command. Destiny-style Stargates do no have dialing devices. Instead, an Ancient remote control is used to dial the gates. The remote provides a list of available addresses for dialing. On Destiny, the control panels in the gate room serve as a dialing computer in addition to their other functions. Other variants Supergate A Supergate is a massive Stargate developed by the Ori, spanning three to four hundred meters across. All known Supergates have been used for the specific purpose of establishing permanent footholds in distant locations in the universe, permitting the rapid passage of the Ori Army's enormous motherships across intergalactic distances. Intergalactic Gate Bridge The McKay-Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge was a project to place a chain of Stargates in the void between the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies; it was initiated to allow rapid transit between Atlantis and Stargate Command without the need of a ZPM to power the Stargate. At the time, only the Atlantis gate had a ZPM available, meaning that the return trip from Earth required a eighteen-day journey in a hyperspace-capable ''Daedalus''-class battlecruiser. To this end, Stargates were "harvested" from the surface or orbit of uninhabited planets and deposited accordingly on both ends. When Atlantis' ZPM was depleted, the project took on an added urgency and was made operational shortly afterward. The bridge (named as such by its co-creator Rodney McKay, recognizing Samantha Carter for the original idea) consists of seventeen Stargates from the Pegasus network and another seventeen from the Milky Way network. A macro program written by McKay and uploaded to the gates' operating systems before dialling causes them to store incoming matter in their buffers, forwarding travelers from one gate to the next along the bridge, rather than emerging from the gate that is initially dialled. Travelers will then exit at the Midway Space Station, halfway between galaxies, which serves as a transfer point. There, they will then use the other gate network (and a second macro program designed for that network) to continue on to their ultimate destination: travelers from Atlantis would use a Milky Way gate to travel on to Earth and similarly, travelers from Earth would use a Pegasus gate to travel to Atlantis. Even with this, the travel time between galaxies is just slightly over thirty minutes, making it far more efficient than traveling by hyperdrive. When the first test of the gate bridge was conducted, only the framework of the station had been completed, so a gateship was used. The test was a complete success, and the bridge was declared operational. It was later revealed that, since the last gate in the bridge must dial the exit gate, normally either Atlantis or Earth, the macro can be rewritten to dial a different exit gate in the destination galaxy. 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